In roiled Kyrgyzstan, government forces retreat amid protests

March 22, 2005|By Alex Rodriguez, Tribune foreign correspondent.

MOSCOW — Faced with rising unrest and calls for his resignation, the president of Kyrgyzstan on Monday ordered election officials to investigate allegations of fraud in the Central Asian republic's recent parliamentary elections.

Demonstrations held almost daily after the Feb. 27 election and March 13 runoff intensified over the weekend as protesters burned down a police headquarters in the southern city of Jalal-Abad. Protesters also have overrun several police and government buildings in the southern part of the former Soviet republic.

Though the rallies appear to be confined to the southern provinces, they have grown larger in recent days. Calling for the ouster of President Askar Akayev and his government, demonstrators have burned billboards with Akayev's image and stoned Kyrgyz police in Jalal-Abad and Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, Osh.

Thousands of protesters, some armed with clubs and Molotov cocktails, overran Osh on Monday, forcing police to flee, The Associated Press reported. The opposition occupied government buildings in five cities and towns across southern Kyrgyzstan, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Nurdin Jangarayev.

In Jalal-Abad, protesters dumped rocks on the runway of the city airport to stymie government attempts to bring in more police. The AP reported that demonstrators in Osh seized control of the airport Monday. The army did not intervene despite the chaos. No casualties were reported.

Akayev, 60, has led Kyrgyzstan for 15 years. His government has been regarded as more reform-oriented than Central Asia's other former Soviet republics. Akayev is constitutionally barred from running for a third term in presidential elections in October, but opposition leaders worry he may use the parliamentary majority he has to amend the constitution and seek another term. Akayev has denied wanting another term.

So far, Akayev's government has refrained from combating the protests with a large show of force. Akayev ordered the central elections commission and supreme court to investigate allegations of fraud in the parliamentary elections, and "to pay particular attention to those districts where election results provoked extreme public reaction. ... All these matters require thorough checks, and people should know who is right and who is to blame."

Edil Baisalov, who heads a Kyrgyz democracy advocacy organization, the Coalition for Democracy and Society, said he doubts Akayev's move would appease opposition leaders.

"We've lost all trust in the courts," Baisalov said. "I am very skeptical that this will come to anything. The people believe that the country's leadership must be changed."

The unrest in Kyrgyzstan comes on the heels of huge protests in Ukraine triggered by allegations of vote-rigging in that country's presidential election late last year. The demonstrations ultimately led to the overturning of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's victory and a new election, won by his liberal, Western-oriented opponent, Viktor Yushchenko.

The U.S. State Department and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe have urged the Kyrgyz government and opposition leaders to begin negotiations and avoid violence.

"We call on all parties in Kyrgyzstan to engage in dialogue and resolve differences peacefully and according to the rule of law," a statement from the State Department said.

Akayev's aides have said the Kyrgyz leader would meet with opposition leaders if they can restore calm to the country's southern regions.

However, one of the key opposition leaders, former Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva, flatly rejected any suggestion of negotiations with Akayev. "We have one aim only--to oust this government," AP quoted Otunbayeva as saying.

Another opposition leader, Mambetjunus Abylov of the Democratic Party of Development, said negotiations are possible, but only if Akayev is involved.

"Anyone else who is going to talk to us, be it the prime minister or the secretary of state, will ... distort the promises that are given," Abylov said.